'I hate you for what you did'

Child's beating death results in 20-year prison sentence.

Child's beating death results in 20-year prison sentence.

June 03, 2006|LEAH BOYD Tribune Staff Writer

ST. JOSEPH -- They used to be a happy couple. Ashley Wier and Anson Ruiz, of Benton Township, used to share love, a home and even a daughter. But Friday, Wier told Ruiz and the Berrien County Trial Court she hated him. Ruiz, who pleaded no contest to second-degree murder in his 4-month-old daughter's death, sat in a courtroom Friday awaiting his sentencing. Wier, who commented before Ruiz's sentencing, stood facing him with tears in her eyes. "I hate you for what you did," Wier said. "I hope you realize the pain you have caused Alana, myself and our families. Not only did you take Alana away from me, you took your own daughter away from yourself." Knowing he could be facing life in prison, Ruiz, 22, of Michigan, slightly hung his head, resting his mouth against his hand-cuffed hands as Judge Angela Pasula sentenced him to a minimum of 20 years in prison with eligibility for parole. A 20-year-minimum is considerably more than the 12-year-minimum Ruiz's attorney, Richard Sammis, argued for. "A severe punishment is appropriate -- there is no question about that," Sammis said to the court. "But from my personal time with the defendant, I don't believe he intended to cause the death of the victim." Ruiz was originally charged with first-degree murder during the commission of a felony (child abuse), after his infant daughter, Alana Ruiz, suffered extensive injuries, including a cracked skull, swelling of the brain and large bruises in the head, in his home Nov. 30. He pleaded no contest to second-degree murder, which is not an admittance of guilt but is treated so at sentencing, on March 24 as part of a plea agreement that the prosecution would drop his original charge. The penalty for first-degree felony murder is a mandatory life sentence without the chance for parole. Second-degree murder carries a penalty of any term of years up to life in prison with eligibility for parole. Before the sentencing Wier asked the judge to severely punish Ruiz. "As Alana's mother, I am asking you to let Alana get justice for what was done to her," she said. After considering the circumstances of the case and sentencing guidelines, which suggested a minimum sentencing between 12 and 20 years, Pasula chose the highest minimum. "It's an unimaginable act and it comes with permanent consequences," she said. Ruiz, wearing a green jump suit, stood and told the court that prison was the least of his punishments. "I wish that sorry would take all this away, but it's not going to happen," he said. "Sorryness doesn't cover the emptiness I feel inside. Sorryness doesn't cover the fact that my daughter is gone...I had a girlfriend that loved me and gave me a child and now it's all gone. "It hurts to stand here and listen to her (Wier) talk to me in a way I never thought she'd talk to me, but I deserve it. I have to live with the pain and guilt for what I've done."